Sesamoiditis

[Black Swan]

I would appreciate feedback from any dancer, parent of dancer, tutor or therapist of dancer who has direct experence of this debilitating foot condition.

If you or your dancer/s have had success or failure in rehabilitating from this condition i would greatly appreciate knowing more about your experience of recommended therapy, treatment, specialists and outcomes.

Many thanks

[JulieW]

My son was off dance for about 6 weeks while his resolved (a few years ago now - he was at WL in year 8 or 9). They didn't do much other than check it wasn't broken and then he had a gradual return to full dance I seem to remember.

 

And funnily (or not!) enough, I broke a sesamoid bone in my foot when I was about 12 - they eventually removed it after months of pain and mystery (this was a very long time ago). I'm not sporty and didn't dance - good job as the joint's now stiff and I walk slightly strangely because of it!

[Black Swan]

Thank you Julie W your experience confirms what we have been told and that is that if you want to have any future dance career then removal of the sessamoid is not an option. Regrettably the conservative route of rest, elevation, ice, custom orthotics, high impact trainers and topical anti-inflamatory gel is producing no improvement for my vocational DS, despite him limiting his dance training from all high impact work since Christmas followed by no dance what so ever since Easter. As you would expect we have taken expert physio, podiatry and orthopaedic consultant advice throughout but we are now looking to seek info from anyone who has personal dance experience of this, just to make sure there is nothing extra that we could consider that might help him - especially as we now have the opportunity to really concentrate on trying to get on top of this during the summer break? We have a good understanding of this condition ( i am an orthopaedic Nurse) and have researched it well - regrettably my DS does have an anatomically vulnerable foot in that he has an extreemly high arch and prominent ball of foot - which although makes for a very beautiful point, does little for him in terms of strength and resilience to cope with the intensity and impact of vocational training.